Railway-tie plate.



A r w m m H m www@ Q m FINIs MCLEAN, or VALLEY JUNcTIoN, IOWA.

RAILWAY-TIE PLATE.

1,22ao9o.

Specification of Letters Patent.l

Application filed October 7, 1915. Serial No. 54,676.

To all whom t may concern.' Y

Be it known that I, Finis McLnAN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Valley Junction, in the county of Poll; and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Railway-Tie Plate, of which the following is a specication.

The objects of my invention are to provide a railway tie plate especially designed for use in connection with concrete ties, whereby the rail engaging means are firmly and immovably held within the concrete tie and are not 4likely to become broken loose from the tie by the vibration and wave-like motion of the rail due to the passing of heavy trains over it.

Afurther object is to provide a tie plate in which a rail may be firmly and securely attached, in a quick easy and convenient manner.

A further objectis to provide a tie plate of this character in which the spreading of rails is positively prevented by having the outer edges of the rail flanges engaged by lugs formed integral with the tie plates, and in this connection it is my object to provide means for-firmly securing the inner edges of the rail flanges to the tie plates, said means for securing said' inner edges being capable of adjustment 'to fit rails of different sizes, and also being capable of being detached quickly and easily without injury to the tie plate or the rail engaging member, so that when thus quickly removed it may be replaced.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement andl combination of the various p arts of the device, wherebythe objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claim, and

illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a longitudinal,` sectional proved tie plate connected with the tiel reinforcing plate.

Fig. 4 shows an enlarged, detail sectional Vview illustrating the detachable rail engaging flange for the, inner edge of the rail iange, the dotted lines in said figure illustrating the manner in which by a change in the shape of this rail engaging flange the device may be adapted for rails of differen kinds-or sizes, and

Fig. 5 shows a top or plan view of one end of arailway tie-having my improved tie pla-te connected therewith, forfillustrating the relative widths of the tie and the tie plate. v

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference numeral 10l to indicate the concrete tie. This is preferably made of two parts, one part being directly under each rail. These two parts are connected together in such a manner as to avoid. the possibility of the spreading of the rails in a manner hereinafter described.

Arranged in about the central portion of each of the concrete tie ends is the reinforcing member 11. This is preferably made of a flat sheet of metal extending from, a point nearvthe outer end of the tie 4to a point spaced apart fro-mthe inner Vend of the tie. This plate isthen extended upwardly at 12 to a pointabove the tie and then again horizontally at 13; *Falso preferably provide thev plate 11 with la series of openings 14 through which the concrete material may pass so that the material above and below the plate will be bonded together.

In order to connect the two tie members with each other Iprovide the fiat metal connecting bar 15, which extends under the parts 13 and is connected therewith by the bolts 16. i

One of the important features in connec- Iatented May 15, 1917.

tion with thi'spart ofmy. device is that by i having the reinforcing bars 11 'and the connecting bar 15 formed of fiat metal of considerable width, and by having the connecting bar 15 arranged above the tie, this connecting bar is held out of contact with the earth or cinders or other road ballast, so that it will -not be so quickly rusted or corroded as would be the case were it embedded in a road ballast material, and also so that it may be easily accessible for'the applicationof paint or other preserving-.materiaL j Furthermore, by having fou-r bolts 16 arranged in these flat wide plates, thetwo ends of the concrete tie are ,firmly held in line with each other, so that I attain the material advantages of a single concrete tie extending under both rails and avoid the expense of the central portion of such tie.

The body of my improved tie plate comprises a flat central portion 17 having formed therein two rail engaging lugs 18 near the outer end of the tie plate, which lugs are an integral part of the tie plate and are shaped to it against and overlap the outer edge of the rail. The outer end of 'the body portion 17 is extended downwardly 'at 19 and then outwardly at 20, and is bolted to the reinforcing member 11 by the bolts 21. The inner end of the body portion 17 extends downwardly at 22 and then horizontally inwardly at 23 and is connected by bolts 24 with the reinforcing member 11.

lVhen a tie is being cast this tie plate is embedded in the tie with only the bodyportion 17 of the tie plate above the surface of the tie, vhence the bolts 21 and 24 are always firmly held in position. Furthermore, by having a solid body of concrete or any suitable material between the body portion 17 of the tie plate and the reinforcing member 11, and also between the two upright members 19 and 23, it is obvious that none of the metal members belowT the surface of the tie may move in any direction, because in order to do so the parts of the tie would be subjected to crushing strains, and it is well known that concrete material has very great strength in resisting crushing strains.

My improved means for detachably and adjustably connecting the inner edges of the rail flange with the tie plate is as follows: The numeral 25 indicates a'rail engaging plate having apart to lie flat on top of the body portion 17, and then a part extending upwardly and toward the center of the rail, said latter part being shaped to fit the rail flange. This plate is provided with bolt openings near its outer end.

The body portion 17 of the tie plate is provided with slots 26 open at the side edges of the tie plate, as .clearly shown in Fig. 2,

.and these slots receive the bolts 27 which have been passed through the rail engaging plate 25. The head ofthe bolt 27 is placed beneath the tie plate body portion 17, there being a `suitable recess 28 formed in the concrete for this purpose.

If itshould be desired to remove a rail, the operator simply removes the nuts 29 at the upper ends of the bolts 27 with a wrench, or as is the quite common practice a large hammer is used to break oli the upper end of the bolt with the nut. Then the plate 25 may be lifted up and the bolts may then be driven out with a hammer through the ends of the slots 26. This obviously may be done opies-ofthis patent may be obtained `for very quickly and easily and is also done without any injury whatever to any part of the tie plate. Then when the rail is replaced it can be set down flat on top of the inner end of the tic pla-te and then shoved out until its outer edge is engaged by the lugs 18. Then new bolts 27 may be. placed in position by sliding them through the slots 26 and the plate 25 may then be replaced with the said bolts passed through the openings therein and nuts 29 may be applied on the upper ends of said bolts.

If it should be desired to use a rail of dif ferent size', the operator may use all of my improved tie plate except the plate 25 and may place the rail in position then drive the lugs 18 with a hammer to position fitting the outer edge of the rail flange, and then he need only substitute new plates 25 to fit the inner edges of the rail flanges, or he may, if he desires, place the old plates 25 in position and shape them by hammering.

In adjusting my improved tie plates for radical changes in the size of the rails, it may be necessary to move the outer lugs 18 outwardly. If this is necessary I provide means whereby it may be accomplished by having the connecting member 15 provided with a series of bolt openings 30, so that the bolts 16 may be placed in any one of these openings, thereby eifecting an adjustment of the outer ends of the tie plates relative to each other, so that rails of any size may be accommodated.

I claim as my invention:

An improved railway tie plate comprising two flat metal reinforcing members designed to be embedded in concrete, each having one end extended upwardly and designed to project above the concrete, a Hat metal connecting piece detachably `and zradijustably secured to the. upper ends of the vreinforcing members and capable of holding said reinforcing members exactly in line with each other, flat metal rail engaging members designed to rest above the concrete in which the reinforcing members are embedded, said rail engaging members having portions ex'- tended downwardly and iixed to the saidreinforcing members, and means on said rail engaging members for engaging and supporting rails.

Des Moines, Iowa, October 2, 1915.

FINIS M'CLEAN.

Witnesses:

A. SHERMAN, J. MAHER.

ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

